After her German shepherd, Roxie, escaped from a relative’s yard in August, Sherry M. Schalk of Tonawanda mounted an extensive online campaign to get the word out about her missing dog.
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Three days after Roxie was found, exhausted, curled up on a porch far from home, Mallory McNicholas of Amherst, who had joined the search for Roxie, created a Facebook page to help other people with missing pets.
The Facebook page, Pet Alert of WNY, run by Schalk and McNicholas, now has been “liked” by more than 1,600 people and groups and has photos on its page of 19 dogs and 25 cats that are missing, as well as a few unclaimed strays that have been found. Some 29 animals — found roaming by viewers of the Pet Alert page, by their owners, picked up by local authorities or that just returned home on their own — are listed under “mission accomplished.”
The idea for forming an online clearinghouse to spread the word about lost animals was formed as Schalk and McNicholas were walking and searching for signs of Roxie.
They had posted fliers in every area where she had been spotted, and “We had started posting on Craigslist on Day 1,” says Schalk. As the days passed, Schalk also posted updates on Facebook pages and websites of local radio and TV stations, shelters and rescue groups.
“Mallory and I were walking her back woods, and we started to talk about the fact that there should be a place to go to put information like this about lost pets,” says Schalk. “I kept saying that all I wanted were extra eyes and ears.”
“We were walking and I made a joke, saying, ‘How come no idiot has started a Facebook page for this? There’s even a Facebook page for Crockpots!’ says McNicholas. “So then, after Roxie was found, I did my research to make sure there were no pages like this, and now we have this!”
There is one other local Facebook page that helps people with missing animals, Chautauqua Missing Pet Alert. This group, which focuses on dogs in the Chautauqua County area, was created in September by Tail Waggers Boutique in Fredonia and has been “liked” by more than 500 people.
The saga began Aug. 14 when Schalk left Roxie, then nearly 2 years old, with her uncle when she went with some other relatives on vacation. Roxie somehow got over or under the stockade fence in his yard and went running. After a few days, Schalk returned home and took over the search herself, enlisting the aid of relatives, friends and basically anyone who was willing to drive around and call Roxie’s name.
As Roxie’s odyssey continued, people who spotted her called the Amherst Police and emailed or called Schalk. Roxie roamed far and wide, and was seen in many places, including on and near the I-990 in Amherst and on Maple Road near Niagara Falls Boulevard. “We figured out later that she was running along the UB bike path,” said Schalk.
Roxie did approach some people, and when she turned up outside McNicholas’ house, the dog eagerly drank water and ate food that McNicholas offered. “I went inside to look on Craigslist to see if she was missing, and in the minute I was inside, she fled again,” said McNicholas. But McNicholas contacted Schalk and the two joined forces to search together.
Although Schalk herself once got close enough to see Roxie, the dog had grown skittish and bolted. “She had been on the run for seven days, and she was sort of a free spirit,” said Schalk.
Finally, on Aug. 20, when McNicholas and Schalk were searching in an area where Roxie had just been sighted, a police dispatcher called Schalk to tell her that a family nearby collared Roxie after finding her lying on their porch.
“She was very tired, she couldn’t even move,” said Schalk. Her foot pads were worn and she was thin and hungry. “I said, ‘My baby!'”
That would be the end of the story, except that McNicholas couldn’t forget the idea they had discussed while Roxie was missing. Three days after Roxie was found, McNicholas called Schalk and said, “I’ve got the Facebook page all set up!” To see the lost and found posts or like the group, go to Pet Alert of WNY on Facebook.
The page’s mission statement reads, “We hope that this will have the same effects as an Amber Alert … We are hoping that families with lost animals and animal lovers all over Western New York post their pleas in trying to find their pets [and] will grab the attention of all passers-by and reunite many pets with their forever families.”
Animals currently listed on the page include a sheltie named Cook from Clarence, a Shiba Inu named Cassie from Newfane, and a Chihuahua named Spike, last seen in North Collins. Cats are missing from South Buffalo, Akron, Tonawanda, Orchard Park and different parts of the city.
In addition to directly getting the word out about missing animals, the page also provides suggestions for people who have lost a pet.
Under its “Info” page, Pet Alert provides phone numbers for local shelters, as well as police and animal control contact information for cities and towns throughout the area.
Members of the group also post encouraging comments to support distraught people who have lost a pet, as well as tips on sightings of animals. After a woman posted photos of her cat, Corbet, missing in Amherst, another poster replied, “I live on Dodge and will keep an eye out for him. I have seen lots of cat tracks in my yard lately but never actually see the cat. … I’ll definitely be on the lookout now. Hope you find him soon!”
McNicholas recently started trying to organize search parties of people who live in an area where a lost dog has been spotted. She is also trying to organize the page’s supporters by area, so that “When a dog does go missing, we can have five to 10 people who live in that area go out and help these owners look for their animals.”
“I try to amp everyone up to share the stories” of missing animals, says McNicholas. When a page supporter shares the story of a missing animal on his or her Facebook page, that post will be seen by all of that person’s friends, increasing its exposure by hundreds of people. And Pet Alert supporters are quick to get the word out.
“When we posted about Mika, a Siberian husky that went missing, we had more than 35 ‘shares’ within an hour, so that’s how quickly word can spread,” says McNicholas. She says six or seven people from the Pet Alert site looked for Mica, who was found by his owner’s son the morning after he ran away, with his leash caught on a tree.
As the word spreads about Pet Alert of WNY, McNicholas and Schalk hope to be able to bring lost animals home more quickly. “We just figured we would pay it forward, because I was frantic the whole time I was trying to locate my dog,” says Schalk.
“There are people on there now giving very helpful suggestions about finding lost animals,” says McNicholas. “We started the page, but it is the followers who are making the page.”
